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the steamer "John Brooks," which left the wharf every morning at seven o'clock for Aquia Creek, and returned in the afternoon at six o'clock. Vast amounts of sutler's supplies were daily brought to the wharf for shipment to the front, all of which had to be inspected, and checked off from invoices, before they could be passed by the guard to the pier where the steamer took on freight. Lieut. Mahaffy, of the staff of Gen. Patrick, provost-marshal of the Army of the Potomac, had charge of this inspection, being assisted by details from the detachment. The regular duties of the post were not severe; but so many extra demands were made on the detachment, not only for guard-duty, but also for manual labor, that the detail was not, as many supposed, a "soft thing." Arrivals of steamers with prisoners, hospital-boats loaded with wounded and sick men from the front, arrived almost daily; and the entire detachment was often on duty without relief for days in succession.

The smuggling of liquor to Alexandria and Giesborough Point, to be sold to men in the camps at those places, was so profitable as to tempt many to engage in it, requiring the continued vigilance of all on duty. Among the devices detected for this smuggling was one practised by the apple and pie women, who were accustomed to go down on the Alexandria boat to sell their wares to the soldiers in camp and hospital. Among their goodies were invariably the long black bologna sausages, always at the bottom of the basket. One day a closer examination of the basket than usual disclosed a row of genuine bolognas on top, and underneath six or eight skins filled with whiskey. For a long time a richly dressed lady was noticed coming from Alexandria two or three times a week on the government boat. She always came to take the return boat in a hack; and the sergeant on duty observed that the driver, in helping her from the carriage, was exceedingly careful, and that her walk to the boat was slow and labored. After close watching for several trips, it was decided to arrest the woman, and search her. The result was, the finding of eleven canteens of whiskey suspended from a belt about her waist, concealed beneath the skirts of her dress.

At the lower pier of the wharf lay the President's steamer, the "Carrie Martin," constantly under steam, and ready to start at a moment's notice; although she left her dock but four times during the whole summer, - three times with the President and friends, and once with the Secretary of War. Nearly every officer of distinction in the Army of the Potomac passed the guard during the summer; and the sentinel's cry, "Turn out the guard-general officer!" was an almost daily occurrence. The character of the duty required of the guard, and the distinguished military and civil officers that frequently visited and passed them, compelled neatness in personal appearance on their part, and a prompt and intelligent performance of the service required of them. The arms and equipments of the guard were in perfect condition, and were their pride throughout their entire term of service.

On the 27th of June the detail at the wharf was changed, and from that date, until relieved in February, 1864, was composed entirely of members of Company G. Lieut. Sturtevant was relieved on the 7th of November, 1863, by Lieut. Tolman of the same company. The detachment remained until the

departure of the regiment from the city.

During the war the military authorities made use of two prisons in the city of Washington, - the Old-Capitol Prison, east of the Capitol; and the Central Guard-House, situated at the junction of Louisiana Avenue and Tenth Street, near Pennsylvania Avenue. The Fourteenth furnished guards for both prisons during its eleven-months' duty in Washington; but a portion of the regiment were more familiar with the Central Guard-House than with the Old Capitol, not because they were often, or ever if I remember rightly, inmates of the prison, but because nearly every man in the regiment was brought in contact with the prison by being on duty there. The Central Guard-House had been used as the common city-jail before the war. It was not a very strong prison, nor was it well constructed as to convenience or sanitary advantages. It was small, and looked more like the engine-house of some New

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England fire-company than a jail. It was built of brick with stone floors, and consisted of a main building some forty feet square and two stories high, with an L extending forty or fifty feet to the rear from the centre of the building. This L was two stories high, and was divided into cells on each floor, located on each side of an alley down the centre. In the main building, on the first floor, were rooms used as offices for reception and trial or examination of prisoners, property-room, and guard-rooms. The second floor consisted of one large room, No. 1, into which most of the prisoners were sent at first, especially if citizens. There were usually from fifty to one hundred prisoners in this room. All kinds and grades of people, from the soldier found drunk on the streets, to men arrested for murder, and even what would now be termed "suspects," found their way to the Central Guard-House.

When the Fourteenth went to Washington from Poolesville in the spring of 1863, it was put upon duty as patrols, guards at bridges and ferries, military headquarters, storehouses, prisons, etc. Capt. J. S. Cooper of the Tenth N. J. was in charge of the Central Guard-House, having under him two officers, taking twenty-four-hour tours, alternately, from noon to noon; and an ample guard, with sergeants and other subalterns. The judge-advocate was Major J. P. Cilley of the First Me. cavalry. Capt. C. M. Merritt of the Twentieth Mass. soon relieved Major Cilley. When the Fourteenth was drawn upon to guard the prison, Sergt. Paul was made prison-sergeant. May 26 Lieuts. Stark Fellows and Carroll D. Wright were detached from the Fourteenth by order of Gen. Martindale, commander military district of Washington, and detailed for duty at Central Guard-House. Lieut. Ira Berry, jun., afterwards relieved Lieut. Fellows; and Lieut. Solomon of the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth N. Y. relieved Lieut. Wright the last of June. Lieut. Berry relieved Capt. Cooper, and was placed in charge of the prison: Other officers of the Fourteenth, among them Lieut. George F. Blanchard, were subsequently on duty at the Central Guard-House. During this summer of 1863 the property-clerk was Sergt. F. C. Horner of the Seventy-sixth N. Y.,

and the clerks were R. N. Washburn of Thirty-ninth Mass., J. P. Cherry of Seventy-sixth N. Y., and J. B. Davenport of Twentieth Mass.

As above mentioned, the high and the low found quarters in this prison, or rather quarters were found here for them. The persons arrested by the patrols or the guards at bridges and ferries were sent here for temporary confinement. In the morning all parties, unless held on the orders of the war department, by Col. Baker's detective force, or by special order, were examined by the judge-advocate, and either returned to their regiments, if soldiers, or over to the civil authorities if the offence for which they were arrested was against the civil law, or were held for disposition by orders.

Sometimes political prisoners were confined here; and the boys will well remember four or five nice old farmers from Virginia, who were kept in a cell for several weeks, without charges being prepared, or any action taken in the matter, until one morning they were released. Honest old souls they were, and they never knew why they were made to pass three or four weeks in the vile vermin-lined cells of the Central GuardHouse.

One day as a colored regiment, one of the first organized, was passing up the avenue in front of the treasury, a wellknown restaurant-keeper, who was looking on from the door of his elegant saloon, made some remark concerning colored troops, which was overheard by one of Baker's men, who at once arrested Mr. H., and brought him to the Central Guard-House. The high-toned prisoner was allowed the sumptuous plank seat and bed of the property-clerk's room, and was fed from his own kitchens. The officers of the Guard-House considered him to be there unjustly, as he was known to be a loyal man, and a personal friend of President Lincoln. Little Teddy Lincoln came to the prison several times to console Mr. H. In a day or two an order came down from the Secretary of War or the release of Mr. H., for which the boys were very sorry, as his kitchen furnished much better rations than did Uncle Sam.

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The Island, especially that portion known as "Murder Bay," kept the prison well supplied with tenants. Scarcely a night passed that some serious assault, if not murder, did not occur in this quarter, and many a bloody and broken head was brought in by the patrols. The city police and the patrols were not on the best of terms; and the patrols were obliged to preserve the peace, as well as see that soldiers were not abroad without passes.

The guard-house was an uncomfortable place for a drunken man, especially if fighting drunk. A good dose of Potomac water, applied through a hose upon the naked person of a drunken man, had a most beneficial effect. It not only took out all soreness resulting from exposure to the night air, but it took out all conceit. A man full of rum, after this invigorating and healthful treatment, was a soberer and a cleaner man, and, if not tractable, was willing, after the second or third treatment, to tell where he obtained his liquor; and the party supplying the prisoner was generally as much astonished at the results of the bath as was the soldier taking it. When sober the man was sent to his regiment, under guard, with a letter from the officer on duty stating all the circumstances.

No. 1, the general reception-room, presented an exceedingly cosmopolitan appearance at all times, with its hundred or so cut-throats, thieves, and other ruffians. The calling of the roll in this room on a hot summer morning was not a very pleasant duty. At the door were two sentinels, with loaded pieces and bayonets fixed. The officer on duty, with the clerk, would go into the room, have all the prisoners arranged on one side of the room; and then, as the clerk called the roll, the officer would see that each man, on answering to his name, stepped out, and passed to the other side. The ugly glances, the character of the prisoners, the slight guard, were circumstances which did not tend to heighten the pleasure of roll-call in this department. Many will remember one man, held for murder, Giacomi Antonelli, who made three attempts to take the lives of prisoners. Such desperadoes served to keep the officers and men on the alert. The Central Guard-House being only a prison for deten